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UN council expected to hold urgent meeting on Golan
UNITED NATIONS, United States, March 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The UN Security
Council is expected to hold an urgent public meeting Wednesday on the US
decision to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, the French
ambassador said.
Syria requested the meeting in a letter sent Tuesday to France, which
holds the council presidency for the month of March.
French Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters a closed-door meeting
on the UNDOF peacekeeping force serving on the Golan could be turned into an
open session in response to Syria’s request.
Delattre said he had sent the proposal for the meeting at 3:00 pm (1900
GMT) to council members and was awaiting their comments.
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Monday in which the United
States recognized Israel’s annexation of the strategic plateau, despite UN
resolutions that call for Israel’s withdrawal from the Golan.
Three UN Security Council resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from the
Golan, which it seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in
1981, in a move that was never recognized internationally.
At a meeting on the Middle East on Tuesday, several countries spoke out
against the US decision and European countries voiced concern that the move
could have broad consequences in the region.
US Acting Ambassador Jonathan Cohen told the meeting Washington had made
the decision to stand up to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran.
“To allow the Golan Heights to be controlled by the likes of the Syrian
and Iranian regimes would turn a blind eye to the atrocities of the Assad
regime and malign and destabilizing presence of Iran in the region,” said
Cohen.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 2018 hrs